“I thought you said you couldn’t dance,” Lasse slid his hand under Jason’s jacket, feeling the heat of his mate’s back through his thin shirt. The two kept Thor isolated for another hour, just as he’d suggested and then removed their ties, loosened their collars and hit the dance floor. Admittedly, the evening was getting on and the tempo had slowed, but Jason was graceful on his feet.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t dance,” Jason said, “I said I hadn’t danced since Tutankhamun was a boy and that’s the truth. But fighting, especially cage fighting teaches you how to be aware of the way others move around you and I’ve always been light on my feet. Mind you, dancing like this is hardly dancing – more like foreplay.”
“Hmm, I like that idea.” Lasse moved closer and Jason didn’t have any objections, if the hands on his ass were any indication. The two men softly swayed to the music, totally ignoring the looks they were getting. A few disgusted, some lustful and one couple of ladies smiled in their direction. Lasse turned them both after flashing a smile of his own.
“Do you ever feel displaced?” Jason asked softly. “Like, you see all these people partying hard. Tomorrow they’ll wake up with hangovers and go to their jobs, or clubs, or whatever rich people do and do it all over again until they die.”
“Is that how you feel?” Lasse turned Jason again, this time to move him away from a couple that were getting far too close. “Like you don’t belong anywhere?”
“I wonder how any of us get through the days sometimes,” Jason rested his chin on Lasse’s shoulder and Lasse knew he didn’t want to be overheard. “In another hundred years, this place, these people, they won’t exist. Oh sure, another generation will take their place with their own rituals and stupidity, but don’t they realize how fleeting life is?”
“They don’t have our advantages, love.” The song finished, and Lasse led Jason off the dance floor, towards the bar. A quick glance over at Thor showed the man was knee deep in attention and loving every minute of it. Thor reminded Lasse of gods of old, being fed peeled grapes and worshipped on hand and foot. All he needed was a toga.
“I’m not sure I feel like another drink, love,” Jason swayed and then righted himself again. “Can we go somewhere else?”
“Thor’s having fun. He won’t even notice we’re gone.” Lasse looked around. “Come on, let’s slip out the back and then I’ll get us out of here.”
“I can always transport you, you know.” Jason flashed his teeth, but Lasse could see he looked pale under the incessant strobe lights.
“Maybe next time. Come, let’s find somewhere more peaceful.”
Rich people made for obnoxious and very handsy drunks and it was ten minutes before Lasse and Jason had made their way out the door marked “Staff exit only.” The alley behind the club was no different from many in the States – the smell of trash overwhelming. “Trust me?” Lasse asked, folding Jason in his arms.
“Always.”
It was tempting to go home, but Lasse felt Jason still had a lot more to say so when they opened their eyes it wasn’t their living room in Greece that greeted them, but the cobbled streets of a quaint French town Lasse visited recently. The Eiffel Tower was lit up in the distance and taking Jason by the hand, he led him around the corner where a small café was still open. There were a couple playing soft jazz in the corner, but there were only half a dozen patrons sipping coffee, brandy or what ever else they fancy.
“This is nice,” Jason smiled genuinely this time as he sunk into the nearest seat. “Can you get me a coffee please and maybe something to nibble on? I’m surprisingly hungry for some reason.”
Leaving his mate to destress, Lasse hurried into the café where he was greeted with a smile. The clock behind the counter said it was almost three in the morning, yet the lovely matron at the counter served him quickly, pointing out the freshest pastries in her selection and making his coffees exactly to order. Within five minutes he was joining Jason at the table, setting down his purchases.
Jason seemed to be enjoying the music, tapping his fingers lightly on the table to the beat. Lasse slowly sipped his coffee, thinking about his mate’s question from the club. Do I feel displaced? Lasse didn’t think he did, but then he’d straddled the lives between acting human and his father’s realm since he was twenty-one and Poseidon had taken him to the surface for the first time. Lasse had been fascinated by humans – their skills, their craftsmanship and their myriad of emotions.
What fascinated him more was their relationships. Lasse never considered the question ‘am I gay?’ Mermen were easier to approach than mer women, so he was thirty before he bedded a human woman. He learned as time went on, some societies were more accepting of same sex relationships than others, and of course, over time, those feelings changed too. Lasse always saw society changes like a giant wheel. Different concepts would cycle in and out of favor depending on the events of the time and oftentimes were associated more with the economics of a community rather than any religious belief, although there was that too.
“Penny for them?” Jason broke his reverie. “Or should I say a euro, given where we are?”
“I was just thinking about how society changes through the generations,” Lasse leaned back in his chair and put his cup on the table, preferring to hold Jason’s hand instead.
“I didn’t mean much by my question at the club,” Jason squeezed his hand. “It’s just – they’ve never been my kind of people. I don’t know how Thor can stand being around them.”
“Thor’s playing with them – he still views humans as his worshipping subjects. But snobby or rich people? What upsets you the most?”
“Both. I don’t worry about money, I never have, but people with attitude simply because of the family they were born into have always rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve never been good with authority, especially from people who haven’t earned it.”
Lasse tried to imagine Jason as a boy. Jason lost his parents during the great war between the ancients, so it was well before he was born. “Have you ever,” he hesitated to ask the question, but he wanted to know. “Have you ever lived anywhere you’ve considered home, since your sister, I mean.” He knew he didn’t need to elaborate.
“Not since I met you.” Jason met his eyes. “I guess you could say I am the world’s oldest nomad, with the exception of Odin maybe. There’s not a land on this earth I haven’t travelled, although the Artic and Antarctica trips were short for obvious reasons. I’m not a fan of the cold weather. I guess in the beginning, when I left my sister, I just wanted to get as far away as possible. My grief and anger blinded me to so much but if anyone had asked up until a hundred and fifty, maybe two hundred years ago, I would have told them I was content enough. I learned a lot, traveling as I did.”
“What has changed with more modern times do you think? What changed for you?” Lasse was curious. He too had watched humans evolve and change, but more from a distance rather than living through it. Jason’s perspective was totally different because of the way he’d lived for most of his life.
“It’s hard to explain,” Jason stared off into the distance. “More transport routes, more people, more push for money and things. Suddenly, you couldn’t just walk into a village and find a place you could work for food. I spent the time from the beginning of World War I through to the end of World War II, hiding out in a mountain range in Montana living with bears. Not because I was afraid to fight but because technologies had increased so much.”
Jason took a sip of his coffee and went on. “Guns became the preferred mode of killing instead of swords. Huge tanks rumbled across the lands instead of horses. Humans learned to fly in those damn planes of theirs and it became harder and harder to find somewhere quiet. Now we have all this technology where you can talk to someone on the other side of the world just by picking up a phone or clicking a button on a computer screen. This damn thing called the internet means you need ID to prove who you are even for basics like getting a job or somewhere permanent to live. I’d always been a loner, but I didn’t have the advantage of people like you, Sebastian, or Thor had, to disappear to another realm when I felt I had to get away from it all. When I found out about underground fighting, I thought I had found my niche.”
“Except you kept winning.” Lasse couldn’t ever see Jason losing a fight.
Jason nodded glumly. “Which meant constantly moving on. Constantly finding more out of the way places where a man could earn a few bucks with his fists before he had to leave when the questions started. I could never risk being picked up because although I found a way to acquire ID, I was always worried it wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny.”
“Did you ever consider living with other shifter types?” Lasse quickly glanced around, but one of the reasons he’d chosen this café was it’s out of the way location; no one paid them any attention.
Chuckling, Jason shook his head. “I tried that, back in the nineteen fifties I think. I found this great place, somewhere near Russia, I can’t remember the exact town, but I learned really quickly it was a shifter town. Boy, the alpha shit his pants when I turned up and I was not-so-politely asked to leave. Their loss. I’d have been happy with an enforcer position, but the alpha was so scared I’d challenge him for his position that he wouldn’t let me stay.”
Leaning over the table, Lasse grabbed Jason’s hand with both of his. “So that’s why you feel displaced. This isn’t a recent thing. You’ve felt like this your whole life.”
“It’s not been so bad.” Jason looked down at where their hands were joined. “Its not as though I ever thought of getting married, having kids, or settling down somewhere. But I’d always thought, if I could, maybe I’d own a ranch somewhere, raise some horses, or something silly. But even then, you need people to work with you and bossing people around is not something I’m good at either.”
“You got Thor’s panties in a twist this evening,” Lasse winked. “I think you played the bodyguard very well.”
“Is that a fantasy of yours is it? Bedding the bodyguard?” Jason smoothed his jacket down his fine chest with his free hand.
“You look fuckable in a suit.” Lasse might not have had that fantasy before, but his brain was happy to supply the images. “I think it’s time we went home, and yes, before you ask, any of my homes are yours as well.”
“How many have you got?”
“Not as many as Poseidon or Thor for that matter.” Lasse didn’t want to get into a discussion about his assets. He had a fantasy to play out.